Every year, a wide variety of professionals with an interest in healthcare technology devote themselves to developing and revising the standards that establish the basis for the safety and effectiveness of medical devices and equipment.
Standards such as ANSI/AAMI EQ56, Recommended practice for a medical equipment management program, and ANSI/AAMI EQ89, Guidance for the use of medical equipment maintenance strategies and procedures, create a foundation for efficient, effective, and timely maintenance of medical equipment and can be valuable tools for hospital-based healthcare technology management (HTM) professionals. By joining an AAMI committee or working group, you can take an active role in shaping medical device standards such as these – working side by side with industry colleagues and participating government agencies.
“I’ve learned and gained varied perspectives from very experienced, knowledgeable members of the HTM, manufacturing, and regulatory community. This broader exposure helped me learn the benefits of listening and developing truly consensus-based standards,” said Stephen L. Grimes, managing partner and principal consultant at Strategic Healthcare Technology Associates LLC in Swampscott, Massachusetts. Grimes is a member of the standards committee that developed EQ56 and EQ89.
There are several ways to get involved: proposing a new work item, joining a technical committee, submitting comments on public review drafts, or attending open meetings of AAMI committees and working groups. To learn more about the AAMI Standards Program or to apply to join a committee, visit www.aami.org/standards or email standards@aami.org.
New Resources Promote HTM to Students, C-Suite
AAMI has published two new brochures aimed at promoting the HTM field. The first focuses on encouraging students to pursue a career in HTM by showing how managing technology saves lives.
“AAMI has heard loudly and clearly about the challenges the HTM community faces with respect to filling positions, bringing new blood into the field, and the closing of several HTM educational programs. As just one small step in addressing these issues, AAMI has developed a new brochure about pursuing a career in the HTM field,” said Patrick Bernat, AAMI’s director of HTM. “The brochure is ideal for anyone who wants to help raise awareness of the opportunities that can be found in an HTM career, including HTM professionals who volunteer at career fairs or other community events.”
The second brochure aims to educate members of the C-suite about the benefits HTM departments can provide to their organizations. The brochure includes testimonials from C-suite professionals, as well as concrete examples of ways specific HTM departments have helped control costs, improve patient care and support other services critical to their organization’s mission.
A PDF version of the career brochure can be downloaded from www.aami.org/HTM (located under the “Career” heading), while the C-suite brochure is available at www.aami.org/Csuite. Free printed copies of both brochures can be requested from http://connect.aami.org/participate/volunteeropportunities.
Checklists Provide Easy-to-Use Resource to Prevent HAIs
AAMI has published a complimentary resource to help health care delivery organizations reduce the risk of transmitting healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Checklists for Preventing Healthcare-Associated Infections: Key Considerations for the Purchase and Use of Reusable Medical Devices includes recommended steps when purchasing a new medical device, training considerations and stakeholder-specific checklists for sterile processing, infection prevention, environmental services, and HTM personnel.
This tool draws from the lessons learned during AAMI’s 2016 HAI forum, in which AAMI and its partners met with more than 100 stakeholders concerned about the safety of reusable medical devices – health care administrators, clinicians, researchers, instrument processing personnel and device manufacturers – to explore how and why device- and equipment-associated infection transmissions occur and to identify solutions to the problem.
The checklists are designed to be filled out electronically or printed out and completed by hand. Download them at www.aami.org/HAI_Checklists.